So, How Much Would You Spend to Save the World?

 It's a stupid thing to discuss.

First, the world is collapsing from global warming.

President 'Joe' says we need a climate agenda.  He says only by spending trillions (not billions)....can we save the world.

A poll got done by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where people were asked how much would pay per month....to save the world.  

First off, almost one-third of the folks in this polling said....zero.  Not even a nickel.

Then you came to roughly fifteen-percent of folks in the poll kinda said in a way that they weren't willing to go past $10 a month on saving the world.  Yeah, basically three-quarters of a case of beer was the max on which these folks were willing to spend....per month. 

So half of the folks in the polling were either giving nothing, or ten bucks.  

The poll also included this odd question....how willing are you to replace your gas-car with a battery-car (E-car).  Majority of folks (53-percent) said they had no interest.  

The odds of the Biden administration getting any gains out of this chatter?  I would have my doubts.  

If you could save the world on $8.99 a month....maybe it'd sell well.  I just have this gut-feeling that $8.99 won't cut it.  

If you just said that 75-percent of the airports in the world would close and flight activity were only limited to the well-to-do or the political class?  I'm sure that would not sell well either.

Converting everyone over to vegan, to save the world?  That's probably not going to work either.

Maybe you'd be better off to send the Chinese back to the lab to build mega-Covid-20, and try to wipe out forty-percent of the people on Earth.  

Ten Things I Kinda Expect By the End of 2022

1.  This Wuhan lab leak business will play out, and China will just stall.  Nine out of ten people will believe the leak business, but you can't really punish anyone.

2.  People will get so deep into the 'woke-business' that that they start talking in a positive way about Nazis.

3.  Unemployment in the US will edge up to around 10 to 12 percent as inflation affects the nation.

4.  More than 250,000 Americans will have contracted the Covid-19 virus, after being fully vaccinated.

5.  VP Harris will have dissolved all of her chances to run in 2024 as President, with a large segment of the Democratic voter base now wondering.....if a 'old' Joe Biden can run a second time, or they have to find a newer group of possible candidates to pick from.

6.   The NBA will have commissioned a private group to find out why their viewing numbers are so dismal.  

7.  Lawsuits start up in Seattle as crime increases, and the police (in low numbers) are no longer able to protect businesses, private homes, or people walking in public.  The cases will mount, and be near half-a-billion dollars in damages.

8.  An upturn in UFO reporting will occur, but the bulk of these new reports turn out to be false.

9.  Some discussion will start up about replacing air travel via planes, with blimps.  It'll fail rather quickly.

10.  Thousands will be on a mental treatment plan because of Covid-depression.

New Homeless Wave Coming

 I sat and watched a piece off YouTube which chatted to a state by state problem....people basically using whatever law or situation possible to delay rent, because of their pandemic/Covid situation.

In the last couple of months....the court system has begun to catch up and landlords are on the offensive....evicting people who haven't paid, and this presents an interesting side-story.

The amount of rent from 2020/2021 which is in this bucket (maybe never to be paid)?  CBS says it's near $53-billion dollars.  

So the question in mind (there are three really):

1.  What happens if the majority of these are evicted and the $53-billion is never paid?  Doesn't a crisis come out of that?

2.  If you add it up and there's 30-million in this category (mentioned in this YouTube presentation), what exactly will happen on eviction day?  Do they just move out on the street, or into their car?

3.  Finally, this would all start to occur on 1 July, unless Biden and the House/Senate went to some extension.  At this point, I think it's too late. The question is....where do 30-odd million people go to hang out?

So my two general predictions.  First, if you live in a red-state and have access to a job....you are going to get employed....find cash-flow and maybe side-step this mess.  If you live in a blue-state, you are going to live out of the car for the next six months (probably moving to a warm state like California or Florida).  Second, on that angle to hyperinflation and serious political chaos....Biden's charm has hit the high plateau at this point in 2021.  

As for things looking a lot like the 1930s?  Well....yeah....that might be true.  

How I Got Addicted to 'Fear Porn'

 It was a dark and gloomy day, somewhere in the early spring of 2020, and 'fear porn' came on TV (German public news) and the thrill/gloom/cold sweat/uneasiness swept over me.  

My pulse picked up.  My anxiety level went from zero....to almost 1.5 (out of ten).  I would compare it to the grocery store being out of Pepsi, or the McDonalds lady telling me that the McRibs weren't possible for that particular day.

The spin?  There's a worldwide epidemic and countless people will pass from this Earth (sooner or later). 

Within a few days, these doctors (virus experts) began to appear nightly on German news and chat forums.  Gone were the gloomy financial idiots, the climate change 'porn' makers, and the people talking of fear of far-right extremism (Nazis, Nazis, Nazis).

Part of me wanted to ask stupid questions, but it didn't seem to really help.

Three months later, then came the 'mask porn', the '1.5-meter social distancing porn', 'no known source in China porn', and the 'cough porn'.  Just standing at a grocery and hearing 'Martin' (the whiny German clerk kid swiping the groceries over the scanner) cough....was enough to set off 'fear porn'.

Having to wear masks in public areas set off more bells and whistles.  My addiction level had gone past '5' on the scale of one to ten.  I started to stay in the house alot.  Just accepting mail or packages from the post-guy.....meant a serious handwash and alcohol doused on my face.  Oddly, I started ordering more things....sometimes worthless items (a Covid-medal from some Italian gift shop, which I gave myself).  This meant the post-guy and Amazon delivery folks came more often.

By mid-fall, 'higher-rate of infection porn' started up, with 'death porn' discussed almost daily.  'Old geezers dying porn' became a regular thing.

I came to appreciate the effort by German public TV, the BBC, CNN, France-24, NBC, MSNBC, ABC and CBS on their 'fear porn' efforts.

Some veterinarian guy came on one of the networks and actually talked 'dog-and-cat infection with Covid-19 fear porn'.  Some weeks later, another guy came on to talk 'lions-get-Covid-19 fear porn'.

In January, my 'fear porn' level dropped a bit....simply because a vaccine now existed.  A month later, it was now obvious that I would not get to the vaccination until mid-summer-fear porn.  

Around Easter, Covid-19 finally arrived on my door-step.  I had it.  For around ten days, I had a marginalized feel-bad....number two-level flu-like situation.  On fear-porn levels....this was a '2' out of a ten.

To be kinda honest, ever since that point (maybe 5 weeks ago)....my fear porn level.....not matter what I read or see on TV....doesn't rise much above a '1' on a scale to ten.

My addiction?  Well.....it just kinda sits there.  I admit, I'd like to watch some CNN Doctor-Doom talk about Covid-19, but in terms of enjoying the fear porn....it's not there.  Did the addiction just go away?  I don't even need rehab or to join some Covid-Anonymous club?  Probably not. 

Amazon Buying MGM Studios?

 What's it mean?

Well....MGM has this vault of literally thousands of productions (from 1920s to now), and Amazon could go off and create another streaming network (or two) that features OLD movies.

An example?  You could start a network that only features movies from the 1930s.  There's probably a thousand movies from that era alone.  Another network could feature only movies from the 1940s.  

Taking streaming video to a whole new level?  

Binge Series

 Over the past five days, I've done a 'binge-watch' of a South Korean series (1-season so far made) of '100 Days My Prince'.  

Netflix in the past four or five months put it up and I decided to watch one segment, and then I was hooked.  

So, here's the thing....it's entirely in Korean....with English sub-text.  Some folks may have a problem with that.

The script?  Five star and it kinda surprised me on the angles to the story.  There's plenty of twists and turns.  

Landscape?  Interesting, and they made a lot of effort to convince you of a period from 500 years ago.

Acting?  Well....it goes from four-star to two-star.  The story carries the bulk of this series.  A second season?  The hint is that they will produce another year.  I should note it's from the 2018 season.  

So if you were sitting around and wanted a binge-worthily program....I'd strongly recommend it.  

Trump-Harris Polling

 It's basically a 3-line story with no real shock value.

A poll was done....Donald Trump in 2024, against Kamala Harris.

Trump wins easily.

Why?  That's mostly left out.  I suspect if you asked people about Harris's first 100 days in the VP chair and what she did.....there's not much other than attending meetings and being recognized as the 'border-guru'.

Did most Democrats expect anything otherwise?  I seriously doubt it.  I don't think she was selected for talents, skills, or past achievements.  She was the female of color among a dozen women, and Biden simply picked her.  Beyond that....on the VP lists of the past hundred years.....she's just not that well noted at this point.

Is this leading to a problem?  Well....if we get to November 2022 and the Republicans win the House back....it's going to be a five-star issue.  I can't see Joe Biden running again, and it's a fair short list for replacements.  

Ten Observations

 1.  Looked at gold prices today?  $1880 per ounce....probably highest of past four months.

2.  Rather odd....some admitting in the Democratic Party that house seats they lost in Novembers election....came because of 'defund-the-police' efforts.  Shocking, huh?

3. Total student college debt is $1.4-trillion presently.  Wouldn't shock me if it reaches 2-trillion by the end of 2022.

4.  Back in 2017....some journalists in Japan started to discuss openly....a 'mask addiction'.....where no mandate or rule existed, but people wore the mask because they were addicted to it.  

It's rather odd....we are reaching this point in the US now.

5.  ABC (the network) came up this week and kinda admitted....they are not that sure about advertising income for the Oscar Show.  Between the lecture business and impact statements made during the shows of the past decade....no one really cares to watch it. 

So the income from the Oscars telecast is crap.  It'll probably still go on in 2022, but if the trend holds....it wouldn't shock me if the three networks all decline it in 2023.

6.  This idea of a permanent National Guard presence in DC?  It's a hard sell to Congress in general.  There's enough votes to get up and running for the next two years.  I anticipate in 2023....with the GOP running the House....the concept will be dumped.

7.  US government hiring 'care-givers' for new Latino kids who arrived?  Yes, starting off with 250.  I would take a guess that by December...it'll be up near 3,000 of them.  Who is really qualified as a 'care-giver'?  That's not clear.  

I would go and suggest that half of the first 250 hired....will be gone within six months....too much stress and chaos for the pay-scale.

8.  Stacey Abrams writes novels?  Well....yeah.  Political thrillers.  Apparently, new contract coming up and she'll write two more political thrillers.  

How people get all excited or hyped with political novels?  Beyond me.  Course, people probably said this over Fred Gipson when he wrote Old Yeller. 

9.  Some people are talking over the quality of TV programs and suggest it's the lowest creativity point since the 1950s.  It wouldn't surprise me if we end up with a talking dogs show, or bringing back Password for prime-time.

10.  NBA ratings seriously down, and not expected to resolve anything.  

Struggle Sessions?

 Almost a hundred years ago....in the newly proclaimed Soviet Union....the communist folks came up with this idea to introduce their method of running things, and it meant arriving in towns, village and cities....convincing people that they needed to confess to certain thing (self-humiliation really)....to rise out of the ashes.

As the years passed, and Mao arrived to remake the Chinese government....this idea of self-humiliation came up and they redesigned it....calling it 'struggle sessions'.

The basic idea?  You'd take general public opinion and just destroy the hell out of it....getting people humiliate themselves, their relatives, friends, and co-workers. Everywhere....there would be enemies of the public.

The idea here?  Everyone was a victim as they exited the struggle session.  And they stayed victims....in order to appear 'in-tune' with the game being played out.

Struggle sessions were held at work, in the local neighborhood, and even at large arenas/stadiums.  

If you stand back today.....wokeness is basically the struggle sessions in a modern day society.  

Funny how history repeats itself.  But if you asked college professors about the struggle sessions....I doubt if you'd find more than a thousand in the entire US who know of the Chinese history, and how it changed society.

Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

 I was sitting and reading a piece yesterday, which led to the idea that there is value or useful purpose....if you were going out to gain useless knowledge.

This actually came out of a book from late 1930s, and it was an open discussion that maybe some experiment or project led to a simple report of zero value today, but sat around for an era and is picked up....to  advance some highly valued project in decades to come.  

It'd be like you doing a garage experiment to find some other type of air conditioning 'element' that was workable but less toxic.  You wrapped this up successfully but found that this was ten times more expensive....so you published the idea but it just sat there.  Years later, the cost factor drops by 90-percent and it suddenly has value.

Out there in the bold world we live in....there's probably tens of millions of people across the globe....working to gather useless knowledge.  To be honest....some of what they work up....WILL NEVER have value and be terribly wasted efforts.  Some will have marginal value, and some will have tremendous value (coming maybe years after the guy's death).

So it is in our best interest to be 'kind' to these individuals and urge them on....even if we see the value of this today as totally wasted.  

I know it goes against our very nature....to discourage stupid work, or work without value.  But you just can't tell....that crazy cousin of yours might come up with some idea that might make Pepsi an actual healthy drink to consume, or get the magic formula to eat 10,000 calories per day but get the body to burn that intake as quickly as it comes in.  

Ten Questions

 1.  Will there ever be a point over the next decade where you walk around and no one is wearing a mask?

No.  That day will not exist, unless you confine yourself to some ultra-rural area where you just get out to buy gas, pick up mail at some rural post office, and avoid civilization entirely.

2.  Is the Pentagon going to 'spy' on military members social media?

Well....the suggestion is there.  But the obvious question....if you have people monitoring....who are monitoring the monitors?  

3.  Could people get so dependent on the government....that they could survive without 'free money'?

That probably occurred in the 1970s, and has been on the agenda ever since.

4.  Did Obama basically admit UFOs are real?

Well....he gave a statement and just said stuff to prepare you for the next reality.

5.  Could 12-year-old kids successfully (using fake ID) trade stock?

First, you'd ask 'why', and after you settle that question....the rest of the answer is 'yes'.

But if the 12-year-old kid figured futures and trends....there's nothing holding him back from being a millionaire by age 21.  

6.  Why are more nutcases showing up at airports and on planes....triggering fights and assaults?

Mostly a trend with drugs and alcohol.  I might even go and suggest the trend will envelop churches eventually.

7.  Talk of this 4th stimulus check?

Yep, it continues on.  I'd prepare for another $1k to $2k each by August.  

8.  With home prices escalating....aren't we building up a problem with mortgage loan companies?

Absolutely.  But no one wants to deny the circus atmosphere from existing.

9.  Does anyone really care what Jeb Bush thinks?

I doubt it.

10.  Lumber prices going downward?

Well....lumber futures are trending downward....which means something is going on and prices should shift in the next month.  

Award Chatter

 Somewhere in the mind of Bill Gates....he had this ambition to get the Nobel Peace Prize.  Now, if you lined up a million Americans....typically, 99.99-percent would tell you this was on their priority list....way down to like item number 7,889.  

To reach this type of status, for whatever reason....Bill Gates got friendly with Jeffrey Epstein.  No one says what favor Bill did for Jeffrey, but around 2013.....Bill had this idea that Jeffrey knew the right people (Thorbjorn Jagland, then head of the committee who'd decide stuff like this), and some meeting was arranged.

No one says what was discussed at this meeting.  I would figure that Bill walked in and jabbered away for a full hour on his foundation.  In the end, Bill (of course) did not get the Nobel Peace Prize.

I sat and pondered over the story.  Across the US, there's probably ten-thousand folks walking around and in some mindset that they ought to win the Nobel Peace Prize for 'something'.  

Barak Obama, I think, really didn't have this ambition, and some idiots with the committee just wanted to say their appreciation that George Bush was gone.  After that episode....a number of folks made the observation that the award was generally worthless.  

If you did the statistical analysis....out of the ten-thousand Americans....there might be one every ten years who gets something done or just fakes enough people to say they deserve it.  

Bill Gates?  I admit....he did well with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  Beyond that, there's not much that I'd give him credit for.  

The thing you are left to ponder.....to get this meeting arranged....Bill had to do something for Jeffrey.  It might be curious to know what Bill did or arranged. 

Parody: Dear Earthlings Letter

 Dear Earthlings:

In recent weeks, with all the hype going on....to suggest 'we' might be visiting you, we felt the need to lay the story out straight.

So, over the millennium (way more than a million years)....we kinda came around to Earth, and may have (at differing times) planted a few things, or dropped off a few critters.  The release of donkeys, Border Collies, and Maine Coon cats was just accidental (they dodged security and sneaked off the ship).

In the early trips, we were sent to Earth just to monitor and plant things.  To be honest, in those early days, the 12-year 'tours' were boring and the reports were usually not going to get you a promotion.

Somewhere along the 1700s, we did get fairly into Earth lifestyles, culture, wine, food, and music.  The reports....as I will suggest went up a notch or two.

Along about the 1890 period, those reports turned into five-star reading material, and the 30-year periods between 'tours' was deleted.  We were sent on a full-time basis.

The 1920s?  Man, with the prohibition era, Nazi Germany, wild times in Paris, Chicago crime, and jazz music....our reports back to the home-planet went up to the top.  Earth reports, with pallets of German beer....became a big deal.

The 1960s?  We had a full-time round-the-clock team in San Francisco, West Berlin, Rome, London and Miami.  In the summer of 1970, we actually had one of our teams meet up Jim Morrison, and conduct a one-hour interview.  For the fall 1972 season of Laugh-In, we had two of our guys hired up as script-writers.  Back in June of 1969, we had one of our guys accidentally bump into Charles Manson and spend an hour talking about some crazy war that he wanted to start up.

Since the 1990s, there's not a single evening news piece on our home planet where an hour of Earth news is not conveyed.  The Kardashians, Prince Harry, Lady GaGa, Homer Simpson, Trailer Park Boys, Colin Kaepernick, Donald Trump, woke crap, Elon Musk, and Covid.....all demonstrate a sensational planet.

You see, we were kinda bored with our advanced society....things were too predictable.  Snoop, ditty songs, Mexican soap operas, the TV series Lost, fake CNN news, crazy religious stuff?  It brought life back into our society.  

As for announcing ourselves?  Well....it just ain't going to happen.  If we kinda mentioned and that we planted 99-percent of trees on the Earth....that most all sea creatures and land animals were what we dropped off, and that we might have manipulated things in the 1500s and 1600s....well....you just wouldn't understand things.  And to be honest, there never was a master plan.  Add to it....we are probably two-hundred million years more advanced.

The biggest thing that we kinda 'gave' you in terms of technology over the past era?  Well....we kinda hinted the idea of 'mute' on TV sets, the general recipe of the McRib sandwich, and the game-show idea of 'Deal, No Deal'.  Yeah, we hyped Trump into the idea of running in 2016.  We also did explain the fake religious stuff to Rasputin.  And we did give some lyric ideas to Johnny Cash back in the 1970s.  I should state....Biden wasn't our idea, so don't go blaming us for him or the woes.

Finally, there's no reason to get worried or hyped up.  We just simply look to oversee your planet, sample Louisiana cuisine, and sip Icelandic gin.

Signed,

Glomac Ik-poop (Glorious sub-commander #9)

TV Chatter

 I noticed some hype coming up over the 'Friends - Reunion' TV show, and then some counter-hype (negative criticism).

The criticism?  Well...for the two-hour show, they intended to bring a number of big-name people on (Lady Ga-GA, Justine Bieber, Tom Selleck, etc)....which just happened to be all white.  From the list of around 30 guests....the only two non-whites were some South Korean boy-band, and Mindy Kaling (Sri Lankan).  

Lacking diversity?  That was the comment made.  

You can go back over fifty years of American TV, and shows rarely came in diverse cultural patterns (maybe All in the Family Counts, Chico and the Man, etc).  

If you attempted to bring back Bonanza today?  You'd likely have to offer two prominent black cowboy characters in order to sell the show.  Seinfeld?  He'd have to have either a black 'friend' or a Puerto Rican girlfriend.  Dallas?  You'd have to suggest that Jock Ewing had a black girlfriend in the 1950s, and has a black son hidden in the oil business.  Remaking Scooby Doo?  Someone in the group would have to be a minority character....probably from Atlanta.  

All of this leading to lesser quality TV scripts?  I would suggest for the past for the past two years....between the cancel culture and woke shows....it's become pretty dismal, and convincing people to look for reruns developed twenty to forty years ago.  

Odds of a Liz Cheney 'Third-Party'?

 All this hype over the past week, led me to ponder upon this suggest of a new Republican Party.  There are four problems:

1.  The more you talk (from this unnamed party)....the more you sound like Mitt Romney, George Bush and John McCain.  Sorry, but that type of chatter won't work.

2.  Basically, you'd have to advocate 90-percent of the Trump positions, or you'd seem to be a left-leaning group.

3.  Your position on migration or open-borders?  Not only does it not sell to 90-percent of Republicans, but it probably doesn't sell to one-quarter of Democratic voters either.

4.  Finally, if you review the 1912 Roosevelt-Taft-Wilson election....it would seem your tactic is basically the same as it, and your party would dissipate (disappear) in four years.  The 'Bull-Moose' Party?  Remember it?  

So, my suggestion?  If you are that moderate in nature....why not just become a Democrat?  

Older Generation Americans Having More Issues With UFO Admittance by the Government?

 Well, yeah.

Generally, I think anyone under the age of thirty is likely to fully accept (say 90-percent or more) the idea that the government says UFOs are real.  

In the age group of 70 over older?  I'd say it's probably less than 10-percent who can believe the idea or feel comfortable with the idea.  

Someone like President Biden?  There's probably 10,000 questions he would ask, and they'd all lead back to a skeptical view....with him declaring nothing factual exists (even if you had a thousand videos by the Navy).  

What drove this serious amount of acceptance?  Mostly Hollywood, and some scientists giving calculations that there ought to be a minimum of a thousand cultures in the universe as a minimum.

The Hollywood effort brand 75-percent of aliens 'bad-guys'?  Well....that might not be a positive thing.  Course, Alf and 3rd Rock from the Sun made this more a comical thing than a evil thing.

So this whole acceptance thing is bundled up into two generations which can't come to a rational middle-point?  More or less.  

AP Story

 Somewhere in the news, you will notice chatter about the Israeli/Palestinian 'mini-war' business, and where the Israelis gave notice that they were going to bomb such-and-such building, which happened to be the place-of-business for the Associated Press (AP).

So after the building fell (completely)....which got the AP people all disturbed...it kinda got said that some apartment in the building with them....was actually the headquarters section of Hamas.  

The AP folks wanted everyone to know that they had no idea that Hamas was also in the same building. 

I sat there reading over the denial, and it just seemed to me.....if you were actual true journalists (from the 1960s/1970s).....you would have known such a thing.  But these journalists from the past decade or two.....aren't that bright, and it's entirely possible that they had no idea Hamas was a neighbor.  

AP shut down for a while?  Well....they have to find a new location....get some equipment brought in, and there's a chance that they move into a new building with their former Hamas neighbors (again).

Observations Over the UFO Business

 Based on the wording of the budget bill passed in December 2020....the Pentagon has to produce it's UFO report on 1 June (roughly two weeks away).  So my observations:

1.  This could still be halted by President Biden, but if he halts it....it'll draw attention and put him in a very difficult position to explain why he did it.  It could be delayed (my expectation) for six months....just to give the White House more time to figure an angle to tell the story.

2.  This sudden story (past week) where Biden is all frustrated, yelling at people and running WH personnel ragged?  I suspect that the Pentagon is having to provide advanced copies of the report, and Biden can't deal with the 'unknown' facts.  

3.  What will the report be mostly about?  Simply sightings that really ramped up along the Virginia coast in 2019, and cover some past 'things'.  The Navy held exercises in 2019 and a significant number of activities were recorded.  They cannot be easily explained.

4.  If UFOs are 'lounging' around the Earth, why?  

I mostly think they are curious and just collecting data.  They aren't interested in introducing themselves (mostly I think because they are more than a thousand years, maybe even more than 100k years....advanced).   Why bother introducing or announcing your presence?  

5.  Just one group or one social 'family' in this UFO business? 

Nothing would suggest that and this report might go to say literally hundreds of things which lead you to think it's more than a thousand cultures surveying the Earth.

6.  If they do 'exist', then what?

I think this is where Biden has a problem....he can't get his hands onto this situation or reason out a plus-up for his presidency.

For regular people, it starts to shatter beliefs.  May ten-percent of society would have serious problems. 

7.  Could the visitors be walking among us?

Well....yeah, that is an extreme possibility.  Maybe you've got a dozen cultures which bring 'people' in, and they get six months of vacation on Earth.....sipping beer, eating McRib sandwiches, and frolicking in Miami.  Maybe they get hyped up on Pabst-Blue-Ribbon beer, and take a pallet back home with them when they leave.  Maybe there's forty of the aliens sitting in classes in MIT.  Maybe some aliens run business fronts in Tulsa or hang out on the streets of Chicago.  

8.  Might the aliens be lingering on Earth because they are so far advanced....that Earth entertainment really interests them?

Well....after watching the entire series of Lost, or having a laugh over Bob Hope movies, or watching WWE wrestling video....they might be fairly thrilled over the stuff.  It'd be like a Alabama guy going off to Manhattan for a month, and getting addicted to street life there.

9.  Should any of this worry you?

If Yak-k-TT wanted to harm you....he would have already done it.  They are so advanced that making threats probably isn't regarded as a part of their society.  They simply explore.

10.  Does the Navy or Air Force hold 'things' which relate to this?

That's mostly an unknown.  I would take a guess that both have programs, and both have pieces and parts of things in hidden labs.  But these things being a thousand or ten-thousand years more advanced....getting into the technology is nearly impossible.

But I would also suggest that various companies have gotten into the labs and found certain things to exploit.  This might be a negative for society.

11. Will the report go to Congress and just be read then, then stuffed into a vault?  Maybe.  

12.  After the report goes public, then what?  

That really is the million-dollar question.  Biden can't answer this.  CNN can't answer this.  Even the aliens can't answer this.  

Ten Questions

 1.  If the fake Republicans walk out and create their own party.....how many people would vote for their candidate?  One-percent of the 2020 Republican voter crowd?

2.  Is there any real factual evidence that gun buy-backs ever reduce violent crimes?  

3.  If you asked President Biden to define inflation.....could he even give you a brief 2-line description?  Is there a chance that he might blab that sometimes....inflation is a good thing?

4.  If someone walked up to you and said within a twenty-mile range of your house....there's six certifiably insane guys/gals who ought to be in a state facility....would it bother you?

5.  Is there anything in your state constitution that gives your state the right to ban words or phrases?  Are there people in your state who think it does have the power to rephrase the use of the English language?

6.  When would you say 'end-day' exists with Covid-19?  Will it occur in your lifetime?

7.  If you took an average kid in Ohio or Michigan, measuring their level of education....would it bother you that seventy-percent of them are a full-year behind the 'norm'? Would it bother you if forty-percent were two years behind?  Would it bother you if ten-percent were three years behind?  

8.  Who would you give more of a confidence 'thumbs-up'.....public health in America, or your local topless dancing bar?

9.   The more that President Biden appears on TV.....doesn't he appear like that Seinfeld 'Uncle Leo' character....the one who talked over his son Jeffery who works in the parks department?

10.  Where is Hunter Biden....just out of curiosity? 

Germans Eating Less Meat?

 Well....yes.

N-TV had a 3-minute piece today and talked of the past forty years in Germany.

According to their data....late 1970s....a German household ate 6.7 kilograms of meat per month.  Today?  2.3 kilograms of meat per month....a third less.

Pork consumption....two-thirds of a cut over a forty-year period.

Eating more vegan-type menus?  To some degree.  But I would suggest (having been here in 1978) that a fair number of German guys were eating a hefty amount of meat per day in that period.  But a lot of the jobs being done were physical labor type, and you burned the calories off.  I don't see that issue existing today.

A continuing downward trend?  I would suggest the bulk of the downward trend has ended, and will level out.

If you did measure up healthy eating in 1978, and tried to measure it today.....you'd find that three-quarters of German people probably eat better today than in 1978.  

The Three Stages of the 'UFO-Elephant' in the Room

 After a fair amount of pondering over my entire life....I've come to this reality.

For most of the past, we all talked of this weirdness over UFOs, and simply fantasized over the whole thing.  We wrote books over it.  We made movies over it.  We went to meetings and conferences over it.

This is what I'd call stage one.

So, over the past year....a lot of chatter has occurred where the Pentagon finally wants to come clear and admit 'something'.  They have yet to do say anything of real value....other than hinting that something is going to be released in 2021, and it's strongly hinted that the mystery only gets deeper in scope.

That's stage two.

So you come to this potential third stage where you lay some bits of evidence on the table and basically say....some highly advanced things lay on the table, to which they aren't man-made.

Then in the middle of this.....you kinda hint for the third stage....that this technology (in their hands) is still ten-thousand to a hundred-thousand years in the future for us to understand (my humble belief).  At that point, you will go off and start pondering certain things.

It'll involve an awful lot of pondering.  

What Joe Said

 President Biden said yesterday....that we needed to increase federal spending on education....when asked how to END gas shortage in the SE of the US.

Quote: “I think that this shows that I think we have to make a greater investment in education as it relates to being able to train and graduate more people proficient in cybersecurity.” 

If you sit and think about it...it'd be like us spending more money on teaching people how to grow roses....instead of shooting people on the streets of Chicago.

Or it'd be like us teaching the horseshoe business, in order to prevent homelessness.

Or it'd be like giving free WI-FI to prevent teenage assaults.

I spent around ten minutes pondering over this, but it's hard to rationalize what Joe said, and what he meant.  For the CNN crowd....this would require an entire hour of 'splaining', and most viewers would have hit mute by the 5th minute.

The thing about this....off in Russia....some kid probably marginally finished up the ninth-grade and just quit school.....to be a full-time ransom software expert.  He's probably making $100k a month.  

If you 'splained' this to President Biden....he'd probably say we ought to hire that Russian kid for cyber-security.

The Odds of the Oakland A's MLB Team Moving to Nashville?

 Well....there are four ways to view this discussion topic.

First, the Oakland A's have finally said....here's the new stadium plan for the bay area of Oakland, and we want the city council to approve it.  The city council?  If you follow this story....they don't seem that hyped-up and it's almost like they were expecting some cash flow to their campaign 'bucket'.  

Second, the Nashville city population for 2021 is figured at 1.27-million, and if you did a boundary drawing (25 mile circle), you can probably add another million.  If you drew the 100 mile circle....there's probably another million minimum.  They have the population to support a team.

Third, there's this odd trend going on with folks from California and NY.....moving to Tennessee (state population this year will likely top 7-million).  

Finally, you come to the general sports attitude of the state and it wouldn't take much to get folks hyped for the A's.

My bet?  At the end of this crappy 2021 season.....I see the team disenchanted with the city council, and just saying the 2022 season is the final season in Oakland.

This Hype Over Liz Cheney

 It's basically a one-to-two-star story, which shocks me how long it lingered as a top-ten political story.

You have the daughter of a ex-VP....who got into political hype in 2016, and won a seat for Wyoming.  She had lingered around in various government jobs from the 1990s on.  

If you had sat a decade ago and engaged her on positions....she was simply pretending to be a right-wing conservative and doing a pretty lousy job of explaining details.  It was like pretending to be a Baptist, while hanging out at honky-tonks on Saturday evening and only being able to name three of the Disciples.  

Taking up a anti-Trump position....while representing Wyoming?  I'm guessing that 70-percent of the GOP-typical voters in Wyoming just stood there and asked questions over her real political stance.  

So, it kinda looks like she's get a primary situation in the spring of 2022, and will be unable to win the primary....thus heading home in January of 2023.  My suggestion here....just quit the Republicans entirely and run as a Democrat.  Course, if she did lousy at explaining that position....it'd mean you really are a fake politician and better suited at selling laundry detergent or magazine subscriptions.

Government Warning You Not to Put Gas into Plastic Bags?

 I sat yesterday and read over this 20-line story.  Basically, the federal folks put out a warning, in this gas crisis period....NOT to buy gas and try to 'store' it in plastic bags.  You know....like shopping bags or garbage bags.

I pondered upon this for a while.

Out of Alabama, I would suggest that 99.9-percent of the population already knew this and it was mostly kids under the age of 12 might have attempted this.

Even out of Florida....it was probably 99.9-percent of the population.

In California?  I'm not that sure.  It might be 90-percent.

Now, if you'd suggested putting gas into milk bottles or wine bottles?  I'm guessing that three-percent of people have done that in their life....mostly for their mower situations.

The thing that gets me....the federal folks feel the need to warn you.  If you counted up the various warnings you get in an average year.....there's probably 3,000 different warnings that you now get.  Even if you buy a container of bean dip....there's probably some kind of governmental warning on that.  

Folks showing up with a 30-gallon plastic barrel and trying to fill it up?  That wouldn't surprise me.  

Observations

 1.  How should the Maricopa County audit business with the 2020 vote be handled?

Those holding control have a state job where they swore an oath to the state laws and constitution.  The minute they show some tendency not to obey either....I'd dismiss them and let security drag them out of the building.  No if's or waivers....just cut them loose.

2.  The idea of just releasing inmates (like California is doing)?

I wouldn't mind if the guy went on a straight and narrow path after that.  But the odds of this?  Probably just one guy out of ten will get that map and walk a straight path. 

3.  A Texas company trying to hire up truck drivers for $14 an hour? 

Well....I wish them luck but other than finding a former inmate of a California prison, I just don't see this going far.  You'd have to start at around $20 an hour.

4.  On the downside of vaccinations?

I would suggest in most states....the peak has already occurred.  The fact that folks in Alabama are presently ONLY at the 24.5-percent point (full vaccinated)?  Well....I might go and suggest that by the mid-point of June....at 35-percent, the governor says it's 'done'.

I'd suggest the same for Nevada, who sits at 30-percent vaccinated.....they might also suggest done by mid-June...at 45-percent.

Should we worry about it?  No.  I'd still rate living in Florida during hurricane season or getting involved with a 50-year old honky-tonk gal as a bigger risk in life.  

5.  Are we done with all Hunter Biden scandals?  

No.  Just a reasonable guess....he's probably burning every bit of patience left in him....staying out of trouble right now.

6.  This FDA mandate that you need to put symbology on food to 'save' us from eating bad foods?

Really?  I mean.....a 'skull and crossbones' on a Twinky? That would change me around to NOT buy the Twinky?  Are you that stupid?

7.  The truth about Albert Pujols being released by the California Angels?

Well.....we will never know the truth.  But there is this speculation that around age 31 when he signed this 10-year contract....that he might have been two or three years older than the truth.  Crazy?  Well....most all players in MLB go into a downward trend around age 35 to 37.  Pujols was already starting that trend in the first year with the Angels.  

8.  Hungary dumping all income taxes for anyone under the age of 25?

Yes.  You start paying at age 26.  The idea is that you will get serious with the extra income....marry up....and have kids early.  In fact, they are hoping you have two or three kids by that point.  

9.  The odds that border states will go massively for Republicans in 2022?

Oh, I'd say that's about a 90-percent chance. I wouldn't even bother sending Democratic candidates in these states any funds...it's a waste.  All this border crisis business being a 'red-flashing' light?  Yep, and it's all going back to Joe Biden.  

Why Aren't There 'Woke' Debates?

 There's probably a thousand questions in my mind (continually) which are unanswerable (examples: is there a color for a mirror, or why hopeless romantics are usually single for their entire life, or is Brittney Spears crazy-crazy or just a person addicted to doing crazy stuff).  

Someone in the past week or two brought up the question....why aren't there 'woke' debates.  It's a good question, but there is no true answer.

Typically, a guy/gal who says they are 'woke'....then gets drawn to a debate over their 'woke' feeling....doesn't really want to discuss the wokeness, the draw to the agenda, or explain themselves.  It reminds one in various ways of people who are cult-members but never want to explain why.

Is there a rehab for woke folks?  As far as I know....no clinic has diagnosed it as a 'problem' or started up a rehab program for folks in this situation.  

A 'recovering' woke person?  There's probably hundreds of thousands....but most probably don't want to admit they got woke, because it's pretty silly to admit this.

As for debating things?  Usually, in business, science and philosophy....debate is helpful and helps to move some idea forward or identify the idea as pretty lame.  

So this is all useless?  I would suggest that merely offering up a coffee to a woke guy/gal....to talk over the Braves pitching staff, or transmission problems, or the useless sport factor of golf....ought to be attempted, with the intent to start a drifting conversation on other topics.  Then thirty minutes into this 'talk'....the woke-guy will suddenly realize that you got him deep into defending his sacred woke-pattern, and he can't defend it.  

I'm not saying you ought to be sneaky.....but you might find this tactic to be something to deprogram the poor individual and bring them back to reality.

Dossier Number Two?

 This week, we learned that the secret-agent team over in the UK....produced up a second Donald Trump Dossier.  This one....is supposed to be everything that happened once he became President, and has juicy Russian-slut stories, etc....well...that's the hint.

The odds that the secret-agent crew is producing DT-Dossier number three for November 2024's election, and has a agent or two working on DT-Dossier number four for the period after the election?

At some point, you start to lose respect for the secret-agent crowd and feel like they ought to stick with Tom Cruise movie-script ideas, or hire themselves out to the Iranians for steady checks.

The fact that decent newspapers fall into the dossier-pit and try to hype secret-agent theories?  Well...these are the same newspapers that failed to discuss Hunter Biden or any of his antics....so you don't really put much trust in their marginal reporting.  

As for the KGB guys feeding these idiots the fake stories?  They go back to the local Moscow pub and laugh over how stupid the Brit secret-agent guys are, and that they generally believe anything they are told.  

Just Another Thing To Worry About

 Daily Caller made the topic into a 40-line story.

An estimate occurred (so it's not truly factual)....but the folks at Bellwether Education Partners says in their summary....around three million school-kids across the US....just plain stopped going to classes (virtual or in person) as the Covid era started up.

They didn't break them up into age groups or go state by state (would have been nice to know that).

The odds that they will return?  How would you 'herd' them back into the system, and are they more than 1-year behind?

Do we really need a bunch (2-to-3 million) of burger-flippers?

Another curious question to ask.....what exactly did the 3-million 'kids' do for the past 16 months?  Did they hang out at malls?  Did they master video games?  Did the older 'kids' become involved in romantic relationships?  Did they mostly sit and play 'fetch' with the family dog?  Did they 'weed-up'?

For some reason, I think we have a pretty dynamic problem brewing and it's going to be fairly serious over the next three or four years.

Just a Weird Thing

 This morning, I picked up reading Pentagon news, and there is this one odd story.  The Pentagon IG (Inspector General) stood up said to all agencies and organizations under it.....they want to know who is investigating UFO reports and how they are conducting these investigations.

Typically, IG's are around to pursue criminal behavior or perceived criminal behavior.  So, to me.....this has a funny smell to it. 

What are they looking for?  It's anyone's guess.

My humble feeling is that they want to know each organization which has a focus or action going on.  Once this picture is clear....some business analyst is going to draw the scheme on a board.  Suggesting there might 20-odd organizations focused on this and not talking to each other?  Yeah, that's my gut feeling.

You might have 20 organizations with ultra secret budgets and agendas.....not grasping that they each only have 5-percent of the total picture.

The possibility that all twenty will be drawn into a room, with the Secretary of Defense telling nineteen of them that their budgets and mission are ended?  I'd go and suggest it's very possible. 

The possibility that the Navy and Air Force each hold five UFOs in some secret facility and not grasp what each has?  That's a possibility as well.

So here's the thing....all of this data is due by 25 June, and I'd suggest that the IG will spend all of July and August discussing matters.  By early September?  Crap is going to hit the fan....with a lot of evidence put on the table.  

A Kid Has 4,380 Days That Matters

 It's a rather old expression but it fits....'times a wasting'.  

As a kid, on day one of school (first grade)....the clock is ticking.  You've got 4,380 days before the basic school business ends.  

Everyday you waste.....every day that you skip school....every day that you are in some juvenile detention center....every day you spend in some mental health unit....every day you spend worrying about your status in life....every day matters.

Kids don't realize....nor do they care.  Maybe around day 4,000....they kinda wake up and start to pause over the future....trying to imagine another 1,000 days beyond day 4,380.

The 500-odd days utilized on trans-kids?  Wasted time.  It's 500-odd days where your priority of growing up, getting educated, or maturing....is dumped down several notches.

The 500-odd days used on juvenile detention, school troubles, or in some youth-offender camp?  Wasted time. 

I know for a 8-year old kid....4,380 days can't be seen as a reality....but somewhere around age 11 or 12.....this is a talk that you need to have with the kid.  Time is passing and you won't get a 'remake' on lost days.  

Why Cashflow Matters?

 Lets say you line up a thousand business operations, and you ask them....how much cash is flowing through their business, and you reach a magic number of 'X'.

Weeks, months and years pass. 

Now you assemble the thousand business operations and ask about 'X', and it's just not the same as it was twenty to thirty years ago.

Fewer trips, fewer vacations, fewer boats sold, fewer motorcycles, fewer quad-bikes, fewer couches, fewer renovations, fewer second vacation residences, fewer 'toys'.  

What you start to notice...back in the 1990s as college debt started up....people found themselves in a dilemma and they couldn't get the 'toys'.  

Same issue.....1990s....credit debt creeped up and while they made up for the college debt situation by having plenty of card-cash.....they eventually reached a point where the credit cards were maxed out.  At this point, they were paying $700 a month....to just keep the debt contained.  If they wanted to ease the credit card downwards....they needed to make a $1000 payment month, and that kept 'toys' to a minimum.

The guys who avoided college debt and credit card debt?  They survived, and for the most part....they kept buying 'toys' and keeping the economy appearing 'safe' and secure.  It was the wrong way of looking at it....but hey....that's life. 

So presently, with Covid, and serious Fed use of free-money.....are we in a cash-flow mess?  More or less.

It's presently reached the point where some banks don't even want to do business with small business operators....because there's simply not enough business to pay for the services or expectations of the bank.

So you might turn at this point and suggest something stupid....like let's pay off the $80k college debt of these foolish folks.  Where would the $80k of rescue money come from?  Well....printed cash from the Fed....of course.

Getting deeper into pit? More or less. 

Facebook Story

 Facebook's Oversight Board decided today....that Donald Trump would not get his account back.  

So the clock starts ticking.  20 January 2025 isn't that far away.

If events occur where Donald Trump runs again and happens to win....he'll walk in at noon on the 20th, and probably one of the top dozen things of interest will be to make life for Facebook miserable for the next six months.

I don't call Facebook's decision brilliant or stupid....it's just that if you make yourself into a target....you deserve most everything you get.

Dimwit Math Agenda

 There's a piece off Reason.com which I would encourage people to read.  The topic?  The state of California is working on a program for K-12 students....to be harnessed and limited on math advancement.  In simple terms....if you had 25 kids out of a hundred who had pretty good math skills by the end of the 3rd grade.....you'd typically see them by the sixth grade....getting into more competitive math classes and prepare them for college.  Under this California agenda....you'd try hard to hold everyone back and try to invent a equal system where no one really advances.

Crap?  More or less.

You'd end up with gifted kids sitting there in the 8th or 9th grade....more than capable of handling Algebra and geometry.  Then you just keep leading them in a circle....never advancing....never getting more insight on math problems.  

The reality of this landscape....for the past hundred years?  I would suggest that a quarter of all kids are very capable of taking on intense math, science and reasoning situations by age thirteen.  I'd also suggest that maybe a quarter of all kids are dismally prepared for anything of a challenge at age thirteen....suggesting that they marginally read at the 6th grade level, and are already working hard to be a burger-flipper at age thirteen.

If I were a parent in this mess?  I'd either remove the kid entirely from the school (home-schooling or private school) or I'd have the kid signed up to a program (three afternoons a week) where they leave the school and get 60 minutes of advanced math each afternoon.  By the 11th grade, I'd advance it to five afternoons a week.

As for this being accepted?  Well....ask yourself....if math is such a problem...wouldn't science become a problem, then history/geography, and finally grammar/literature?  Why bother running schools beyond the 9th grade then?  Just graduate them and get to the burger-flipper job as quickly as possible.  

In fact, I might even ask myself....why bother hiring up teachers with bachelor degrees.....I can run these programs with people who have one year of community college and just slant everything to get a burger-flipper kid out into the real world as quick as possible.  

'Woke' Crowd

 Yesterday, I spent around an hour watching some new CIA recruitment video (probably six times with the same video).  The hype with this series?  Well....they want to let you know that being 'woke' all fine in the CIA and that they have people already there....fully 'woke' and able members of the team.  So if you were 'woke'.....you'd find friends and fine folks there ready to welcome you.

My end-feeling over the video and the 'woke' door being opened?  You are recruiting people who would easily fall over themselves, and have anxiety or panic attacks. Yes, you might be in the middle of a crisis where some ambassador is hidden in some secret residence, with forty ISIS guys jumping the fence and all intent to kill the guy.  The CIA 'woke' officer?  All hyped up and unable to react because they've been triggered, and require medication/rest.

The old CIA guys accepting this?  I'm confident to say that they have no say in this recruitment business, and CIA HR is running this on their own.

The odds of the 'woke' recruits....in ten years.....being offered 'exit-money' to leave the CIA because they aren't fit for duty?  That's my full estimate in 2031....some 2,000 CIA people with life skills that make them of no value to the CIA.  It's probably in the range of $100k to $150k for them to accept the 'exit-order'.

You can add another curious issue....a fair number of CIA officers end up in foreign lands, and have to put up with a fair amount of chaos and trouble.  Do you really want a 'woke' gal/guy in this type of situation?  You'd have to go and recruit some mental health experts to travel with the officers....to help motivate and keep them clear of 'woke' thoughts.  

It's a comedy in several ways, but it'll end in a pretty dramatic way.  

How Many More Financial Stimulus Payments Will Occur in 2021?

 I expect by late June....another stimulus is discussed....in the range of $2k per adult.  Payment?  Just my humble guess....late August.  

Another payment by early December...maybe a lesser amount of $1,200 per adult?  Yeah.

I'll also predict a minimum of two payments in 2022.   

Why? Well....there is no upswing in the economy....people are sitting and spending at a reduced level.  If you were looking for some signal or some 'Jesus-moment'.....it's just not there and I'd give zero odds on President Biden changing that.

What should you do with the money?  The government would prefer you go out and spend every penny of it, and another bit out of your own pocket.  My advice....if you are employed....stock the money into a CD of some type and just sit on it.  

Bringing us to some version of creeping/walking inflation.....then eventually to stagflation or deflation?  Yeah, this is path we are walking along.  As long as they can print money....its going to be awful hard for hyperinflation to occur.  I would even add this.....hyperinflation with the zero-interest money of the Fed would indicate something a circus coming to town, with the lions and tigers escaping out of the cages and roaming around.  It'd be awful bad news.

What Joe Said

 Someone this past week....went back to Ronald Reagan's 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act, HR 4242 and the subsequent 1986 tax reform plan, HR 3838.

If you don't remember them....they lowered individual and corporate tax rates and introduced a series of other reforms to the tax code.

Among the US Senators who voted for the acts?  Senator Joe Biden.

Yes, this is the same Joe Biden who said this week that such measures don't work, but didn't really say much over his support for them in 1981.  

My Gut Feeling Over Court-Packing

 When you gaze over this stupid topic....you have to wonder if the folks writing the Constitution (way over 200 years ago) could imagine the value put upon the Supreme Court today?  My humble guess is NO.....they just didn't see the court as a third part of the Republic....otherwise, they would have wrote five to ten additional pieces into the Constitution.

As for adding three or five additional members?  Once you do it, and the next new administration arrives....what would keep them from double-court-packing....adding three more members, or perhaps nine more members?

To be honest, with all the 'business' of the court....one might even talk over the subject and agree that nine different courts need to exist, and each have a different area of expertise.  

An example....just have one single court for privacy of data or technology issues.  Or having a court that only handles farm or agricultural issues?  Or perhaps having one single court which handles the entertainment and music industry?

The need for the court to be based in the District?  I don't see this necessity anymore.  They could easily be moved out to Colorado or Oklahoma.

As for Biden getting the Democratic support to change the number....in the Senate?  I don't see this happening.  They certainly don't want a hornet's nest of three months of highly aggravating Senate work going on daily....trying to confirm three new judges.  I would also add....if this were the gameplan....you need to start this by late summer 2021, and NOT in the spring of 2022 with primary elections underway in most states.

So I think it's mostly a doomed-to-die topic within the Senate, and likely to be one of the 300 promises of Joe Biden.....which never occur.  

How The Census Changed House Seats

 The smoke has cleared:

States losing one seat: California, NY, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, and Penn.

States gaining one seat: Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Florida and North Carolina.

States gaining two seats: Texas.

The enormous fight on redrawing districts in the thirteen states?  Well....yeah, this is going to occupy these 13 states, and consumer a fair amount of time of the Supreme Court in 2022.  

Alabama?  For the past six months, it'd been argued that they'd lose one seat.  Well....it didn't occur.

This being a top five political topic in the spring of 2022?  I would suggest that.  

Whats the Difference Between Inflation and Hyperinflation?

 Well, on the simple explanation....in a inflation period....you typically see  products/services increase at a higher rate (month by month).  An example, you mow grass at a regular rate of $10 an hour.  In a inflation period, in the second month of summer, you bump the price to $10.10 an hour, and in the third month to $10.25 an hour.  So by September, the end of your mowing season....you are charging $10.60 per hour.  

In a hyperinflation period, you start on day one of the mowing season with a fee of $10 an hour.  By the last day of the first month, your fee is now $12 an hour.  By mid-summer, if hyperinflation continued....you'd likely be charging $13 to $14 an hour.  By the end of the season, your charge would probably be between $16 and $18.

As you can imagine in your mowing empire....business slumps in the hyperinflation period and people skip a week or two on mowing jobs.  

Is there just normal, inflation and hyperinflation?  No.  The experts have five periods.  Normal, creeping inflation (which isn't much to worry about), walking inflation (where you probably need to start thinking about your job and stability), galloping inflation (things start to get rough), and hyperinflation (seeing a quarter of people dismissed from their jobs wouldn't be uncommon).

I should note that the experts have a phrase called 'stagflation' that exists, which typically means that the prices are rising while the economic situation is totally flat (unchanging). The last time we had stagflation?  In the early 1970s with the gas crisis period....where several parts of the economy were rising and several parts were worsening, and oil/gas went to outrageous prices.

Are we in a inflationary period?  In the last month, I've probably read a dozen financial pieces which suggest that we are in the begging stages of creeping inflation, and move to the walking stage inflation situation by late summer.  It's not a terrible or woeful thing....unless you skip a step and find yourself at the galloping stage or in a hyperinflation mess.  

What Joe Said

 There was an interview yesterday, between President Biden and NBC news.  So the topic of wearing a mask came up (as if we really needed a Presidential comment over the subject), and what President Biden said was:

"It's a small precaution to take that has a profound impact. It's a patriotic responsibility, for God sake."

I sat and pondered over it.  

In the same reasoning....I use toilet paper, because it's a patriotic responsibility.

In the same reasoning....I wear underwear, because if's a patriotic responsibility. 

In the same reasoning....I don't smoke menthol cigarettes', because it's a patriotic responsibility.

In the same reasoning....I drink only premium beer (not the cheapo stuff), because it's a patriotic responsibility.

In the same reasoning....I eat mostly beef, because it's a patriotic responsibility.

In the same reasoning....I don't listen to much of anything said by Senator McConnell, because it's a patriotic responsibility (and he's a nut anyway).

In the same reasoning....well....you know.

The problem with Biden's logic is that you'd have to get up each morning, and just feel awful patriotic.  I could go and ask a hundred working-class Americans and they'd tell you that their patriotism for the mask and ban-rules just isn't there anymore.  

This was the kind of quote you could have said in the 1960s and got away with, but in this 2021 era.....it just doesn't work.